Notre Dame All-America linebacker Manti Te'o turned down an invitation to play in Saturday’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., a decision that the bowl’s executive director Phil Savage says is a mixed blessing, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported.

“Part of me feels like P.T. Barnum and would love to have him,” Savage told the newspaper Monday of Te'o, whose fictitious former girlfriend has caused a national sensation in the past week. “Then again, if he was, that would take away from the attention the 100 other players we have here get.

“If we thought Tim Tebow being here (in 2010) was a circus, this would been even wilder.”

Notre Dame center Braxston Cave, a teammate of Te'o’s who is in Saturday’s game, agreed, according to the Advocate.

“Things would have been crazy,” he said. “That would have been hard on Manti, and he doesn’t deserve that.”

Cave, according to the Advocate, added that he believes Te'o’s statements that he was the victim of a hoax and only knew he had been fooled when an acquaintance confessed to his role.

“Somebody played a sick joke, and it definitely got out of hand,” Cave said. “What you see with Manti is what you get. He is a great team leader and a great football player. I have no reason not to believe he is telling the truth and that he will get through it.”